Chapter Eleven
Charlotte
Walking into the dingy room my sister occupies, I’m surprised to see her looking happy and well. In my mind, I’d pictured her falling apart – it’s just the way she is. She falls apart, and I hold her together while I go about fixing everything. That role had fallen on me at an early age and I’ve never questioned it. This time though, she had made a mess I could not fix. It’s reassuring to see her in control of herself.
“Char! Hi!” She smiles at me, wrapping me in a hug before holding me out at arm’s length to look at my healing face. Her smile falls away, eyes filling with tears. “Oh, sweetie. I can’t tell you how sorry I am.”
I smile tightly. “I know. I’m ok.”
Nodding, she moves to the bed where she sits on the edge, looking at me with concern showing in her deep brown eyes.
“Anna? I need to know. Why did you borrow all that money from the Devils?” I have to ask. There’s no way to ease into this conversation. I need to know and, I’m tired of everybody keeping me in the dark.
Anna’s eyes go to the floor in front of her feet. She sighs and doesn’t speak for a few seconds, searching for the right words. “It’s so stupid. I never meant for it to go so far. I got a couple of credit cards using Mom’s name.” She swallows thickly. “She was pretty sick at the time and didn’t even know about them. After she died, nobody else knew about them either … so I just kept using them. I kept buying more and more shit; clothes and jewelry and stuff. Those couple of trips I took to Vegas were all put on those credit cards. They were maxed, they cut them off and were about to send them to collections. I knew if that happened, I’d be in a lot of shit for using a dead woman’s credit cards, so I borrowed the money to pay them off.”
I stare at her. All this shit is happening because she wanted dangly earrings and tube tops? What an idiot! “So what you’re telling me is, you stole from Mom, even indirectly before she died and continued to do it afterwards … so you could buy clothes and trips to Vegas?
She looks at her feet and nods her head. I’m still confused though. “Why on earth did the Devils even lend you that money? I mean, it’s not like they’re a friendly group of guys looking to help a woman in need.”
She looks up at me, tears falling down her cheeks. “I guess it’s ‘cause I was kind of their favorite. I’m … I don’t know. Flexible? The couple of guys I was sleeping with were the ones to lend it to me.”
Revulsion washes over me. “Ew! Even Krueger?”
She nods her head and continues to cry silently. I can’t even hide my shiver. Disgusting. I force myself to push that horrible mental image to the back of my mind and decide to let it all go for now. Anna has always been greedy, so that part’s no surprise. I figure that will never change either. Anna’s leaving tonight and I don’t want to fight with her. Especially when I don’t know when I’ll see her again.
“So now you’re off to Montreal?” She nods again. “Well, Ryker tells me you’re leaving soon, so let’s get you packed up.”
Meeting my eyes, she gives me a soft, relieved smile before nodding her head.
***
Ryker
I glance at my watch one more time. This church meeting is taking way longer than I expected. I need to get Charlie home to get her shit, then get her to work for three o’clock. All of my brothers are sitting around the long wooden table that sits as the centerpiece of our club’s meeting room.
“Well, now that we got that settled, there’s one last order of business to see to.” Gunner’s voice breaks through my thoughts. Snapping back to attention, I see his gaze on me. As the president of the Kings of Korruption, Gunner Munroe is a force to be reckoned with. He’s not a man whose attention you want aimed in your direction.
I stare back at him, waiting to hear what he has to say. I don’t have to wait long.
“Some crazy shit went down the other night, Ryker.” I nod. Crazy shit did go down. “Some of our brothers helped you deal with that shit. That’s cool – that’s what brothers are for.” I nod again, waiting to see where he’s going with this. “What I wanna know now is, you want more help dealing with this shit, to protect a couple of civilian bitches that have no affiliation with this club. You claiming one of these bitches as your own?”
“No.” My answer’s immediate. Memories of this morning flash through my mind. Charlie moaning sweet for me, coming on my tongue, and then again around my cock. Charlie smiling her mega-watt smile at me, causing the breath to catch in my chest. I want nothing more than to claim her as my own, but that shit just can’t happen. Gunner cocks his eyebrow at me. “I don’t know.” I stab my fingers through my hair. “I just … fuck. I’m not claimin’ her. I don’t want an old lady, and Charlie’s not going to get involved in our world.”
“Seems to me she’s already involved,” Tease drawls.
I glare over at him. “She is. Her sister’s a fuckin’ cunt. The type of cunt who’d sell her own sister to fuckin’ Krueger, of all people, to use as a goddamned sex slave. All over a few thousand fucking dollars.” I glare around the room, looking each one of them in the eye. “Charlie’s a good person. She was good to Smokey before he died.” I stand my ground as they all stare at me, each one looking skeptical. I decide to pull out the big guns. “Smokey liked her. He would have wanted us to protect her.”
Ten sets of eyes lower to the table, looking thoughtful. “Look. I just can’t let him take them. We have the resources to fuckin’ help these women. Krueger’s been a pain in our ass for as long as I can remember. He’s been raping our whores for years, and last year he cut that one bitch up so bad, she was in the hospital for fuckin’ weeks. Maybe this whole situation will allow us to get rid of him once and for all.” Silence fills the room.
My chest grows heavy as the tension in the room builds. Regardless of what these fuckers say, I’m going to take care of Charlie. That cocksucker Krueger, is not getting his hands on her.
“I’m in.” This comes from across the table. Jase. That crazy son of a bitch always has my back. I nod at him in appreciation.
“Me too.” This comes from Tease. Tease is just a prospect and his vote doesn’t count for shit, but he’s one tough son of a bitch. Having him at my back will be a definite advantage. I give him a chin lift.
“Alright, let’s put it to a vote,” Gunner says. “All in favor of helping Ryker protect his pretty little nurse and her cunt sister, and hopefully getting our hands on Krueger in the process, say aye.”
The room resounds with a unanimous round of “aye’s.” Relief washes over me. I would’ve protected the Daniels sisters no matter what, but with my brothers helping me, it won’t be nearly as difficult.
“It’s unanimous. Ryker, you’ve got the club’s help when you need it. I will say though, somethin’ else comes up that needs our attention, the club comes first and those bitches will be left on their own. We clear?”
I nod my head, not about to argue. I’ve got the club’s help and that’s all I can ask for. Hopefully nothing else comes up, but if it does, I will cross that bridge when I come to it. Gunner bangs his gavel, adjourning our meeting. Fucking finally.
I stand, moving to follow my brothers out of the room when someone places a hand on my arm. Turning, I see Reaper standing there, not looking happy.
“Ryk. We need to have a word.”
I really need to get out of here and get shit done, but the seriousness of his tone has me curious. Nodding my head, I turn back to the room, waiting silently as everyone clears out. When the room’s empty, I look to him again. “What’s up?”
“I want to talk to you about these women.” My body stills as I wait for him to continue. “I got a bad feelin’ about this shit, brother. It’s not gonna end well for you. You say you’re not claimin’ her, but you’re swingin’ all our asses out there to protect them. And for what?”
Anger flashes through me. “What do you mean, for what? You want to leave two defenseless women to Krueger, so he can do whatever the fuck he wants to them? That shit’s fucked, Reap. Even for you.”
“You seem to be gettin’ awful attached to that pretty little nurse of yours, but I gotta say it.” He leans in, putting his face directly in mine. “She ain’t from our world, Ryker. Gettin’ attached to a bitch like that is fuckin’ insane, and you know it.”
He’s not saying anything I haven’t thought myself already, but having someone else voice it out loud is like a physical punch to the gut. “You think I don’t fuckin’ know that?” My face twists with anger. “If we don’t fuckin’ help them, Krueger is gonna use her like a goddamned sex slave. Can you live with that? With knowing that he’s raping her every goddamned night? We have the power to stop him, and I’m going to. No way in hell am I stepping aside.”
I glare at him, a clear challenge to argue with me. I’m wound so tight, I know that if he does, I’ll snap. He glares back at me. “See what I mean? Fuck, Ryker. You’re willin’ to take me on right here and now for even suggestin’ we don’t help them. You’re too fuckin’ attached to her.” He sighs, running his hand through his hair in frustration. “I’m not tryin’ to be a heartless dick, but you need to see the big picture here. You’re our VP. You’re next in line to be the fuckin’ president of this MC. Gunner’s leavin’ soon and we need you. Not a doubt in my mind, you’re gonna be the best prez we’ve had, but bein’ with a bitch like that makes you vulnerable. In your position, bein’ vulnerable is a fuckin’ liability. You should know that better than anybody.”
My heart clenches. Fuck. My mom. Reaper’s right. I can’t get involved with Charlie. I should never have touched her last night, and I definitely shouldn’t have fucked her this morning. I’d fucked up royally, but it’s not too late. I know I can still protect Charlie and Anna, but I need to do it while maintaining my distance from them both.
“I’ll help you out. Take her to my place. Protect her myself.” His words snap me out of my thoughts. No way in hell is he taking Charlie to his place. Not only is she fucking terrified of him, but the thought of Charlie sleeping in Reaper’s bed instead of mine has me wanting to take a swing at the son of a bitch.
I try to maintain my cool. “Not happenin’. I got this. Shit stays as is. Charlie will stay with me, and Anna is out of here tonight. We’ll get that fucker, then life can go back to business as usual.”
Reaper just stares at me. I know he doesn’t believe my act. Is my affection for Charlie that clear by the look on my face? Fuck. Charlie. My liability.